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“It’s Amazing! These Computers Are So Much Faster!”

United Way Upgrades Their Network With Help From Tech Experts

With some computers that were going on nine years old, the United Way of Monroe County knew it was time for an upgrade to their network. After a careful review of their requirements and several proposals, the organization chose Tech Experts as their trusted network service company.

“The United Way is an incredible organization, and accomplished amazing things with their technology,” said Thomas Fox, president of Tech Experts. “But it was clearly time for a technology refresh. We were very excited to work with them on the project.”

The agency had a mix of computers running Windows 2000 and Windows XP, and a file server running Windows NT Server 4.0. The workstation computers all needed upgrades, and were running various versions of Microsoft Office.

Like any small business, the United Way uses their computers for everyday business tasks, such as communicating with donors and volunteers, word processing, desktop publishing and book keeping.

“I knew we needed new computers badly and had been searching for ways to accomplish purchasing them,” said Connie Carroll, United Way’s executive director. “We were able to secure a grant and with that and the help of Tech Experts, we were able to upgrade our technology.”

The new network at United Way is fast – consisting of an IBM eServer running the latest Microsoft Windows 2003 Small Business Server operating system. The workstation computers all feature 17” LCD screens and lightning-fast IBM/Lenovo computers with Windows XP Professional and Microsoft Office 2007. It is a tremendous upgrade from their old technology.

Connie continued: “It’s amazing! These computers are so much faster! It has been a bit of a learning curve getting used to the new Office software, but I know we will be more efficient going forward.”

“We like that Tech Experts is a locally owned company with a track record of providing service in the community,” continued Rusty Davis, the United Way of Monroe County’s Program Manager. “We like the personal service we receive from Tech Experts.”

Slowdown Means It’s Time To Boost Productivity

Thomas Fox is president of Tech Experts, southeast Michigan’s leading small business computer support company.

I attended an industry summit last month in Orlando, Florida, sponsored by the company that develops the software we use to run our business. Over 750 of the computer industry’s top service providers all converged in Downtown Disney for two days of training, sharing of best practices and panel discussions on the future of the computer service business.

Not surprisingly, a frequent topic of discussion among the attendees was the economy. While I know companies and people are struggling, I think in large part the media builds up the hype and frenzy to the point of near mass hysteria. “Bad news sells papers,” as they say.

Being involved in these discussions at the summit did drive home the point that we need to be the trusted business advisor for our clients. This means we need to do more than fix your computers – we need to help you maximize your technology investment, reduce costs and lower overhead. You don’t want computers – you want what the computers can do for you.

This has never been more important than right now, as we’re watching the economy rise and fall like a roller coaster.

This idea won’t be popular with your employees, but one of the areas where we can help you make an immediate impact on your bottom line is by increasing productivity. The Internet has become a way of life for nearly everyone – and almost every staff person has Internet access right at their desktops.

If you have a medium sized company with 10 regular, work at their desk type employees. Let’s assume, too, that each person makes $20 per hour after taxes and benefits. If each employee wastes just five minutes per day on the Internet, your annual waste is over $4,300. If they spend 15 personal minutes per day on the Internet, the annual cost is more than $13,000. An hour per day? The cost skyrockets to more than $50,000 per year.

There are plenty of options available to limit and monitor Internet usage at your company, and I’d encourage you to implement something immediately. There are some options that won’t cost you anything more than an hour of one of our consultant’s time.

If you know that employees are spending time on Myspace, for example, we can block access to that website. Or, you can make Myspace a hot monitoring term, and start recording a screen shot every second while an employee is on that site.

We also have the ability to block any external sites at the firewall level, so there’s no need to monitor employee’s computers. With a firewall, we can deny and allow sites based on their category (research sites are allowed, while lingerie sites aren’t). Call me at the office (734-457-5000) and I’ll be happy to discuss options with you.

If you’re concerned about violating employee privacy, here’s a little secret I’ll let you in on: The good employees don’t care. And secretly, they’re going to be happy you’re cracking down on the slackers.

The Value of Peer Groups And Partnering

I’m extremely fortunate to be involved in several peer groups, which helps put me in touch with the best and brightest in the computer service industry. In case you’re not familiar, a peer group is an association of business owners, usually but not always in the same industry, who meet on a regular basis to network and discuss issues they’re having in their businesses.

The Three Amigos in Orlando, Florida! From left, Howard Cunningham, David Bennett and me. I’m very fortunate to be able to call these guys friends.

If you’re not involved in some sort of CEO group or industry association, I encourage you to join one. It is invaluable to be able to network and talk with other business owners who understand my company and the challenges I face. And I’d bet you’d find the experience invaluable, too.

I was able to see two of my peer group friends at the Orlando meeting, David Bennett and Howard Cunningham. These are guys I admire a lot, not only for their business acumen but also for their willingness to share what they’re doing in their businesses that make them successful.

Dave owns Connections for Business in Hollywood, Florida, and Howard owns Macro Systems just outside of Washington, D.C. These guys share my goal of growing my business and providing incredible service to my clients. They’re at the top of their game in the IT services industry, and I’m really glad to be able to call them friends.

Do You Want To Be Able To Work From Home? Here’s What You Need To Know!

There’s a hot business trend that’s become even MORE popular with the rising gas prices: telecommuting.

Whether you call it “working from home,” or your “virtual office,” the idea is the same: Your network is configured to give you and your staff the ability to work from some location other than the office.

While most business owners and managers pulling 60+ hour work -weeks love the idea, they often fear that employees working from home won’t be as productive, or won’t take their job seriously, but this fear is on the decline.

The International Telework Association & Council (ITAC, www.telecommute.org) reports that the number of workers who telecommute at least once a week has topped 23 million and is continuing to grow.

While telecommuting will not work in every situation, there is no doubt that technology has made working from home extremely practical whether a few times a month or every week.

Offering Work From Home Options Makes Your Company More Competitive
As a matter of fact, offering work-from-home options can give you a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining the best employees:

• Employees who are sick can continue to work without infecting the office or losing an entire work day.
• Employees forced to stay home to take care of sick family members can continue to work instead of taking off long periods.
• Inclement weather or heavily congested traffic won’t shut down your office.
• Key managers with a heavy workload will actually be more productive if given the ability to work from home on evenings and weekends.
• Allowing employees flexibility during peak workloads (e.g. CPAs during tax season) makes employees happier to put in the extra hours from a home office.
• Employees with temporary or permanent disabilities can continue to be fully functional in a home environment.

Telecommuting Improves Employee Productivity And Retention
ITAC reports that enabling key employees the ability to work from home actually increases their productivity, leads to fewer sick days, and a better work/life balance which in turn, reduces turnover. After all, an employee who is given the benefit of working from home will often pass up higher paying job offers that will require them to be in an office 40 hours a week.

For the business, telecommuting saves on rent and utilities and can help avoid the heavy expense of renting additional office space or moving to larger locations.

Most business owners will test a “work from home” program by only giving themselves and a few key managers the ability to work from home. Often, this is for after-hours access. Once the technology is set up and tested, a few additional key staff can be permitted to work from home on special occasions, while traveling, sick, or otherwise unable to come in.

FREE:
The Ultimate Small Business Owners Guide To Setting Up A ‘Work From Home’ Program Or Remote Network Access
If you are thinking about investing in the technology to allow your staff to work from home or a remote location—DON’T—at least not until you read this informative new report.

To secure your free copy, go to:
www.MyTechExperts.com/remotereport
or, call the office at (734) 457-5000.

Is Your Computer Acting Scary? Try These Tips!

Has your computer been acting strange lately? Has it been popping up with funny messages, running slower than normal, missing buttons or cannot get on the Internet? All of these things can be caused by malware and can do so without the computer user even knowing that they are being targeted.

Most effects of malware are just annoying to the user but some can attack your PC and cause the computer to be unusable or even to lose data.

The use of the Internet has caused an increase in this type of infection. What exactly are viruses, spyware, Trojans, worms, and adware?

• Viruses are computer programs that can copy itself and infect files increasing memory usage and slowing down the system. Viruses can be opened by launching a file that has .exe on the end. Other people can be infected by contact to the file that was originally infected. The virus can do harm by attaching to an application, application file or by residing in the memory (RAM).

• Spyware collects information about the user’s Internet activity or changes the configuration of the computer. They can change the home page that opens up when you start Internet Explorer or add buttons to Explorer. Also called adware.

• Trojans are, many times, a form on a web site that misleads you in believing that a program is used for a helpful purpose but instead has a malicious intent. You can be downloading a paint program to make artwork but instead you are really being infected by a Trojan that may harm your computer .

• Worms are like a virus but spread through a network of computers without a user doing anything. These will corrupt files and cause the Internet to run slowly on your computer.

• Malware are any of the above types of infections.

Now that you know exactly what these pesky pieces of software are, it is time to modify your Internet habits. These are some tips to help avoid risky behavior on the Internet.

• Use a firewall. This will help block unwanted transmissions to your computer.

• Update your operating system when needed. Microsoft routinely releases updates for security fixes.

• Use an anti-virus software.

• Never open e-mail or attachments from anyone that you do not know.

If you have questions about computer viruses, or think you may have an infection, call the Tech Experts 24 Hour Computer Emergency Hotline at (734) 240-0200.

Halloween Holiday Trivia: Bet You Didn’t Know…

Orange and black are Halloween colors because orange is associated with the fall harvest and black is associated with darkness and death.

Jack o’ lanterns originated in Ireland where people placed candles in hollowed-out turnips to keep away spirits and ghosts on the Samhain holiday.

Pumpkins also come in white, blue and green. Great for unique monster carvings!

Halloween was brought to North America by immigrants from Europe who would celebrate the harvest around a bonfire, share ghost stories, sing, dance and tell fortunes.

The ancient Celts thought that spirits and ghosts roamed the countryside on Halloween night. They began wearing masks and costumes to avoid being recognized as human.

Halloween candy sales average about 2 billion dollars annually in the United States. Chocolate is #1.

Halloween is the 2nd most commercially successful holiday, with Christmas being the first.

Bobbing for apples is thought to have originated from the Roman harvest festival that honors Pomona, the goddess of fruit trees.

School is Back in Session

How to Keep Your Kids Safe Online

With school back in session, thousands of children will be surfing the Internet to conduct research, chat with their new classmates and complete homework assignments.

Although the Internet provides a tremendous learning tool for children, left unchecked it can also expose them to inappropriate material and unscrupulous individuals looking to exploit innocent children.

The Statistics of Online Abuse Towards Children Are Alarming

According to a survey conducted by NetAlert, nearly one child in every five has been approached online by a stranger, and 45% have been exposed to material that is pornographic, sexually explicit, violent, racist, or that encourages them to participate in dangerous or illegal activities.

One of the biggest threats are social networking sites like MySpace.com.

But MySpace isn’t the only threat.

According to Highlights of the Youth Internet Safety Survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, one in five children received unwanted sexual solicitations online. There are a growing number of pedophiles using the Internet to gain a child’s confidence and arrange face-to-face meetings.

These cyber criminals are using everything from spam e-mails to online messaging, kid’s chat rooms, and misleading domain names to trap children. If your child uses the Internet, you must take measures to protect them from these dangers.

As part of our back-to-school newsletter edition, we’ve outlined 3 things you should be doing now to keep your kids safe online.

3 Things You Can Do Right Now To Protect Your Children Online

1. Install web and e-mail filtering software to prevent your children from viewing inappropriate material. We recommend using www.bsafeonline.com. Not only will this prevent your children from visiting inappropriate web sites, but it will also stop inappropriate spam.

2. Talk to your kids about online safety and proper Internet usage. Set limits and guidelines about when they can go online, what they can do, and how long they are allowed to be online. Explain why it is dangerous for them to “chat” with strangers online or download suspicious looking files.

3. Give your children specific online guidelines or rules to follow when using the Internet. It’s not enough to warn them about potential risks; pedophiles know how to cloak their identity and gain a child’s confidence to arrange face-to-face meetings.

Require Your Kids To Follow These Rules Online:

  • I will not give out personal information such as my address, telephone number, parents’ work addresses, or our e-mail address to anyone online.
  • I will tell my parents right away if I see a web site, e-mail, or message that makes me feel uncomfortable.
  • I will never send my picture to anyone online or upload my picture to any web site without my parent’s knowledge and permission.
  • I will never agree to meet someone face-to-face whom I met online without my parents’ knowledge and permission.
  • I will not respond to any messages that are mean or that make me feel uncomfortable in any way.
  • If I get a message like that, I will tell my parents right away so that they can contact the online service.
  • I will never give my parents’ financial information to anyone, especially their credit card information, bank account information, or social security number.

If you want more information on how to keep your children safe online or to report illegal, violent, or explicit acts towards children, go to www.cybertipline.com.

This site is run by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and is a great resource for parents, teachers, and guardians.

 

WARNING! Domain Scammers Are Out To Rip You Off!

We’ve received a number of calls from our clients over the past few weeks concerning domain renewal notices from companies such as Domain Registry of America and Liberty Names.

The renewal notices look like invoice, but in small print indicate they’re not. Be careful, because these notices are a scam to try and get you to switch your domain registration service to these companies, usually at much higher fees than are normal for domain registration.

One of our clients received two letters from them on the same day, urging them to transfer domains from my current registrar to their bogus service. If you receive one of their letters or emails, our advice is to throw it away – and let everyone that handles the mail at your company to throw them away as well.

If you read the notice VERY carefully, these companies are trying to convince you to transfer your domain to them by using threatening language and misleading information. If you use magnifying glass to read all the fine print on the back of their letters, the alarm bells will ring. Here’s an extract:

“You agree that you may not transfer your domain name registration to another domain name registrar during the first sixty (60) days from the effective date of your initial domain name registration with DRoA. You agree to provide written, signed authorization to DRoA for the transfer of the domain name to another registrar and agree to pay any and all fees that may be charged by DRoA to effect the transfer. Your request to transfer to another registrar may be denied in situations described in the Dispute Policy…”

“You agree, during the period of this Agreement, that we may (1) revise the terms and conditions of this Agreement; and (2) change the services provided under this Agreement. Any such revision or change will be binding and effective immediately on posting of the revised Agreement or change to the service(s) on DRoA’s web site, or on notification to you by e-mail or Canadian mail. You agree to review DRoA’s web site, including the Agreement, periodically to be aware of any such revisions.”

We interpret this to mean that if you mistakenly fall for their letter and sign up for their service, you are stuck with it for 60 days, must pay any transfer costs back to your own registrar and could end up paying for expensive services you didn’t agree to.

Domain Registry of America has been taken to court and rapped over the knuckles several times by the Federal Trade Commission for misleading consumers, but they’re still at it, trying to get people to switch their domain name registrar and usually pay a higher price in the process.

Our advice: If you haven’t already, move your domain registrations to our service. We charge a very reasonable $15/year per domain name, and as a courtesy, provide Domain Privacy Service to you at no charge. This means that domain scammers like Domain Registry of America and Liberty names won’t have access to your mailing and personal information.

That way, the only renewal notices you’ll receive for your domains will come directly from Tech Experts. For more information about our domain registration services, call (734) 457-5000.

What To Look For When Choosing Your Web Host

Anyone that has looked in to setting up a website knows that there is just more than saying, “I want a website.”

First, you must decide what type of website you want for your business. For instance, do you need a portal for customers to login and buy merchandise or check for new information regarding an invoice? That kind of website is called a dynamic website because the information keeps changing and usually requires lots of time from the webmaster to keep the website managed.

Then there are the websites that just act like a billboard to help promote your business to people. These sites will usually include a lot of the sales and marketing information from your company’s brochures.

The next step, after deciding what type of website your company needs, is choosing a domain name. This can be the trickiest part of putting your company online. Domain names are the “real estate” of the Internet – you can’t publish a website without a domain name. And, the reason I say it is tricky is that most of the good names are already registered.

Tech Experts can help you in choosing a good domain name, and register it for you as part of your hosting service. A tip, though: Make sure your domain name ends in “.com” – any of the other domain endings, like “.biz” and even “.net” are like the second class citizens of the Internet.

Here are some things to consider when you’re choosing a hosting company.

Reliability
Reliability is one of the most important factors in web hosting. If the hosting company doesn’t have great reliability you can find yourself losing lots of customers because of downtime. Most companies will advertise 99% uptime which is good but a better hosting company will offer a refund in time or in cash for downtime if they go under 99%.

Location
Location is another factor to consider. If your website is hosted in another country you will find that people will have a very slow response from the website due to the time it takes for the information to transfer to the destination. When choosing the location, try to stick with one in the same country as your target audience.

Data transfer speed
Data transfer speed refers to how quickly pages load and the rate at which other information on your Web site is accessed by visitors. Ask about data transfer statistics, and have the company show you how the speed they provide will be adequate for your needs.

Hard drive space
Hard drive space is something that is closely related to data transfer. Most businesses won’t need more than 10mb of storage space for their website, but be sure you have the option to increase space if needed. If you plan to store users and picture on the website you will need to plan in the future to have extra hard drive space. You’ll use more bandwidth as your visitor counts goes up.

The control panel
The control panel for a web site is where you go to make minor administrative changes to the site. For example, you would use the control panel to add new e-mail users to your service. Make sure the company you select has an easy to use control panel.

E-mail service
E-mail service is the next consideration. Some hosting companies provide email support and will allow you to create 1 or even unlimited amount of email accounts. Email accounts are usually always setup through the control panel you have chosen to use. You will want to make sure that the hosting company provides spam filtering services, too. The last thing you want to do is spend your time deleting hundreds of junk mails.

If you keep these things in mind, you’ll have an idea what you need and you will be able to start comparing web hosting providers. Here is my advice: Always remember, you get what you pay for. Do not expect a $5/month provider to have better support compared to a company like Tech Experts that charges a fair price and provides you with excellent service.

If you have questions about web hosting or having a web site set up for your company, please e-mail me at cbogedain@expertsmi.com.

 

Computer Slowing Down? Try A Memory Upgrade!

I just turned a little older, and as anyone my age can attest, the first thing to go is your “memory.”

It is no different with your computer. I recently upgraded our workstations here at Tech Experts, from 1gb of RAM to 2gb, and I could not believe the difference in the way our stations run. Programs that I use on a daily basis run unbelievably fast.

I’ve been asked over the years, “What exactly is RAM?” RAM (Random Access Memory) is the temporary working memory that the Windows operating system, programs such as Microsoft Word and Excel, and documents use when your computer is running.

Don’t confuse RAM with hard drive storage, which is where all your files are stashed. For years, processors and software have been growing increasingly RAM-hungry. Even just a year ago, 512mb was considered enough. We started out at 1gb, and upgraded to 2gb in our stations, which seems to be the “sweet spot” for Windows XP.

If you are working in Word, have a couple of websites open in Internet Explorer, and Outlook is open for your e-mail, inside your computer, each of your programs is competing for RAM. Windows is juggling which program gets priority at a given moment.

If you don’t have enough RAM, Windows will use the hard drive as virtual memory. The problem is, though, that swapping programs back and forth between RAM and your hard drive is much less efficient than keeping everything in RAM.

If your system seems sluggish and you notice lots of hard drive activity, chances are good that adding RAM memory will rev your system up. Programs that you run in a business environment need to process information RIGHT NOW. That’s why we’re recommending all of our clients upgrade to 2gb of RAM in their workstations. The speed improvement is incredible!